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The Polycomb group protein SCML2 and the transcriptional cofactor YAP1 regulate diverse cellular biology, including stem cell maintenance, developmental processes, and gene regulation in mammals and flies. However, their molecular and functional interactions are unknown. Here, we show that SCML2 interacts with YAP1, as revealed by immunological assays and mass spectroscopy. We have demonstrated that the steroid hormone androgen regulates the interaction of SCML2 with YAP1 in human tumor cell models. Our proximity ligation assay and GST pulldown showed that SCML2 and YAP1 physically interacted with each other. Silencing SCML2 by RNAi changed the growth behaviors of cells in response to androgen signaling. Mechanistically, this phenomenon is attributed to the interplay between distinct chromatin modifications and transcriptional programs, likely coordinated by the opposing SCML2 and YAP1 activity. These findings suggest that YAP1 and SCML2 cooperate to regulate cell growth, cell survival, and tumor biology downstream of steroid hormones. 

Abstract The EPHA3 protein tyrosine kinase, a member of the ephrin receptor family, regulates cell fate, cell motility, and cell–cell interaction. These cellular events are critical for tissue development, immunological responses, and the processes of tumorigenesis. Earlier studies revealed that signaling via the STK4 -encoded MST1 serine-threonine protein kinase, a core component of the Hippo pathway, attenuated EPHA3 expression. Here, we investigated the mechanism by which MST1 regulates EPHA3. Our findings have revealed that the transcriptional regulators YAP1 and TEAD1 are crucial activators of EPHA3 transcription. Silencing YAP1 and TEAD1 suppressed the EPHA3 protein and mRNA levels. In addition, we identified putative TEAD enhancers in the distal EPHA3 promoter, where YAP1 and TEAD1 bind and promote EPHA3 expression. Furthermore, EPHA3 knockout by CRISPR/Cas9 technology reduced cell–cell interaction and cell motility. These findings demonstrate that EPHA3 is transcriptionally regulated by YAP1/TEAD1 of the Hippo pathway, suggesting that it is sensitive to cell contact-dependent interactions. 

Sex comb on midleg-like-2 (SCML2), a conserved polycomb group protein, functions as a transcriptional repressor. SCML2 binds monomethylated lysine residues on histones and regulates homeotic gene expression during development in mammals and the fly. Using proteomic approaches, we have identified SCML2 as a binding partner of the YAP1 protein complexes isolated from nuclei of prostate cancer cell lines. Both SCML2 and YAP1 are known to regulate basic cellular biology, including stem cell maintenance and carcinogenesis. Our western blot analysis showed that, unlike androgen receptor (AR)-negative cancerous and non-cancerous prostate epithelium, AR-positive cell lines express the high levels of SCML2, suggesting a possible link between androgen hormonal signaling and SCML2. In addition, our immunofluorescence imaging revealed that androgen hormone signaling promoted the subcellular localization of SCML2 and YAP1 proteins compared with mock control. Enzalutamide, a potent pharmacological inhibitor of AR, significantly prevented the subcellular distribution ofYAP1 and SCML2. Consistent with this observation, our proximity ligation assay demonstrated that androgen also regulated the physical interaction between SCML2 and YAP1proteins that occurred primarily in cell nuclei. Enzalutamide also prevented protein-protein interaction between YAP and SCML2. Besides, our GST-pulldown assay revealed that SCML2 and proteins physically interact with each other in the test tube. Furthermore, our promoter-reporter assay showed that transfection of two different SCML2 siRNA enhanced the activation of the YAP-responsive promoter-reporter gene four-fold compared to mock siRNA control. These observations suggest that the interaction between SCML2 and YAP1 is biologically functional and crucial in human physiology and disease. 

The transcriptional co-activator YAP1 (yes-associated protein 1), a crucial effector of the Hippo pathway in mammals, regulates cell growth, cell motility, cell migration, and carcinogenesis. The STK4/Hippo kinase phosphorylates Ser127 and inactivate YAP1 activity in mammalian cells. Cytokines such as receptor activator of nuclear factor Kappa B (RANKL) regulate the immune system and bone remodeling. Similarly, stroma-cell derived factor 1 alpha (SDF1α) produced by the bone marrow stromal cell, is directly linked to cell migration and metastasis. We hypothesize that RANKL/SDF1α attenuates phospho-Ser127 and enhances YAP nuclear localization. We conducted immunological assays to evaluate the effects of SDF1α or RANKL on YAP1 in the LNCaP prostate cancer cell line. We showed that SDF1α and RANKL modulate phospho-Ser127 and total YAP1 protein in a time-dependent manner, as demonstrated by western blotting. We also showed that SDF1α exposure promoted YAP1 nuclear localization, as revealed by immunofluorescence imaging with confocal microscopy. These findings suggest that cytokines positively regulate YAP1 activity, possibly by counteracting with the STK4/Hippo signaling. The results of this study imply that cytokines secreted by the tumor cell environment promote an invasive cancer cell phenotype by modulating the Hippo-YAP1 pathway.